Are you sending e-newsletters or special offers via email to an opt-in list? If not, you are loosing an excellent and low-cost approach to reaching your current clients and interested viewers. Email marketing is here, everyone is doing it, and its actually very simple and inexpensive.

First you need a provider. Many large companies have the resources to develop this internally, however there are many great providers out there that do all the work for just a small fee. The fee is usually either a per-message cost of around a penny (or 2) or a monthly fee that is dependant upon the size of your list. See our Email Marketing Comparison Chart for our picks on providers.

Second, comes the opt-in list. All providers we recommend offer a customized opt-in list that you design on their website and they then provide you with the code to plug into your own website. This is a key feature that does all the work of collecting and organizing names & addresses for you. If you have a current list it can be uploaded and new names will be added. At any point you can log on to view the names and info in your list. Put this signup code on your home page and make it attractive.

Now you have heard the scary term “opt-in list”. This is what keeps you out of trouble. By current SPAM laws you may only send email to those whom ask for it. Don’t get scared, if you offer something that is of interest, people will sign up. You need to find creative ways to convince viewers of your site that it is worth signing up. Offer a freebie, contest, or other type of promo to get them excited. Be sure that you tell the subscriber exactly what and when they are going to get. People don’t like too much email or random messages. Make your campaign monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly, and stick to it.

Once you have your provider, created an opt-in list that is now on your website, and is functional (test it!), you can start to put together your campaign. Campaign building is another great feature to the providers we recommend. They offer pre-built templates where you simply insert your logo, headlines, text, and links -very simple. Stick with the same template so your viewers will get used to the layout and don’t see it as unwanted junk mail. Each new message can be a copy of the last with new content. Keep it simple, remember the email is simply to trigger a call to action and get them to hit your site or look into a topic or product.

Email marketing can be a very effective and profitable method of advertising if done correctly. Find a provider that fits your needs, play by the rules, and be creative. There is tons of great info out there on ways to improve open, response, and conversion rates to help you get the most out of your email campaign.

My e-marketing picks: Constant Contact & iContact